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A lion from Karoo National Park at the Kazuko Lodge in Addo on May 27, 2016 (Photo: Gallo Images / Foto24 / Werner Hills)
The South African National Parks (SANParks) have euthanized seven lions from the Karoo National Park on the grounds that they pose a threat to livestock and humans. A public outcry may be in the offing, but the incident underscores the challenges of managing dangerous megafauna populations.
SANParks said in a statement on Friday, October 2, that the decision “was not made in a hurry.” The park has 14 lions remaining.
The group of women had escaped from the park and killed sheep on a neighboring farm and were “a threat to humans,” SANParks said. “The herd had become familiar with a specific area they escaped from and one of the herd members had developed a habit of digging under fences.”
“… Lions that pose a threat to livestock and people have a high level of urgency and are executed after a thorough assessment and observation of circumstances over time,” the statement said.
The incident has echoes of Sylvester the lion’s escapades.
Tale of two cats, Cecil and Sylvester
Sylvester had two escapes from the park, the first in 2015 that sparked a maddening 24-day chase and left a trail of dead sheep in its wake. After the big cat’s second escape, he was scheduled to be euthanized, but a public uproar in the wake of the media frenzy surrounding the killing of the lion Cecil in Zimbabwe led SANParks to find a new home for Sylvester in Addo National Park, Where he lives. for this day.
A handful of people on Twitter have already expressed outrage at the decision to euthanize the seven cats. “Relocate lions. Don’t kill them! ”Said a Twitter user in response to the SANParks press release.
But finding a new home for the pride of the seven was not so easy. Times, it seems, have changed since Sylvester was saved.
“The option of relocating the lions to other state or private reserves that are part of South Africa’s lion metapopulation was not feasible due to their own space limitations and the pride’s history of catching livestock,” said the statement from SANParks.
“SANParks annually offers lions for donations to South African reserves, however there has been a demonstrable decrease in reserves that can comfortably accommodate more numbers; last year’s donation drive resulted in losses. ”
Therefore, SANParks currently cannot even give away lions to private game reserves or provincial parks that generally absorb this amount. There are probably several issues at play here. The statement deliberately noted “space limitations,” suggesting that they simply no longer have room for more big cats: As fenced territories, there is a limit to the number of animals those places can sustainably accommodate. SANParks estimates that lion populations in smaller reserves can grow by 22% per year, reducing the number of prey available and increasing the chances of an attempt to break the limit.
Private reserves may also be avoiding the risks and costs of keeping lions. The private hunting and ecotourism industry was hit hard by the harsh blockade imposed since late March to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, which may have limited its ability to deal with more lions given the costs involved.
South Africa’s animal husbandry industry on the brink of collapse
On another front of the megafauna, at least half of South Africa’s white rhino population is now in private hands. But security costs and concerns about poaching have driven smaller players out of the game, concentrating the population in the hands of larger ranchers who can absorb the costs.
Monopoly capitalism of the white rhino? 28% of South African private rhino owners are ‘exiting’ the species
Another problem was the behavior of the lions. They had become dangerous with a penchant for crossing fences where they had an easier game.
“Lions as a species are generally opportunistic, prefer easy prey, learn extremely quickly and could easily become habitual cattle raiders when circumstances permit. In most cases, when lions start catching cattle, they also tend to lose their fear of humans; these lions pose a danger to human life, ”SANParks said.
This is the key point. Fences are there not only to conserve wildlife, but also to minimize human-wildlife conflict and protect human life. What virtually none, if any, of Sylvester’s supporters knew at the time they campaigned against his death sentence after his second escape was that he had twice been within 200 meters of an agricultural school when children were present. Imagine the outcry if Sylvester, or one of the seven lions that was just slaughtered, had killed a child.
Or let’s put the problem this way: what parent would want to expose their child to the risk of a lion attack?
There are conservationists and animal welfare organizations that will certainly disagree with the action SANParks has taken here. But who was willing to take these lions and offer guarantees that they would remain contained?
Critics may say SANParks should do more to maintain its fences, but that is costly and the South African government in the wake of the economic collapse of the Covid-19 shutdown is barely living up to it. And fencing in the Karoo, with its many small ravines and treacherous terrain, is arduous and provides opportunities for escape.
The fact that lions were reintroduced into the Karoo in 2010 after an absence from the region of nearly 170 years is a cause for celebration for conservation, a deep-rooted landscape ‘rebuilding’ in South Africa, where megafauna have become repopulated in many areas. where the great creatures were annihilated. But maintaining them requires a delicate balance that must also consider the potential human cost. A child would be too much. DM
